Kelvin Bagshaw scaled back the potato acres on his farm near Birsay, Sask., to 70 from 300 in 2003, but still looks forward to a bright future in the crop in the irrigated lands around Lake Diefenbaker.
“There’s no reason it can’t be a Taber or Lethbridge of this province,” he said, likening his district’s prospects to those of southern Alberta’s irrigation areas.
While still a minor player compared to Alberta and Manitoba, Saskatchewan has seen bumper potato crops in recent years. The government-built sheds are well stocked and potatoes remain among the most profitable irrigated crops to grow.
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Bagshaw said the closure of the Pak-Wel-Agristar fresh pack plant in 2004 was a big blow, but not as bad as the failure of the provincial government’s potato venture in the late 1990s.
Potato acreage spiked when Spudco and Sask Valley Potato Corp. came to the area, but dropped sharply when they failed and took several years to recover. Bagshaw said a solid future depends on the community finding a company that knows the volatile potato business.
“We have to learn to do it right,” Bagshaw said, noting Saskatchewan also has to explore and embrace new crop opportunities.
“The whole general Saskatchewan mindset is a big hindrance.”
Bagshaw said production is the easy part of the potato industry.
“Potatoes make specialty crops look like a day in the park.”
The perishable product must be marketed quickly because last year’s crop becomes worthless when the new crop emerges. Often one region does well in potatoes because of crop failures elsewhere.
Bagshaw, vice-chair of the Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association, believes irrigation development can stabilize and enhance farmers’ returns.
“The big plus in irrigation is the ability to diversify our farm,” said Bagshaw, who grows timothy, alfalfa, potatoes and pinto beans on his dry and irrigated land.
“If I didn’t have irrigation, I couldn’t grow any of those crops.”
He said Saskatchewan must capitalize on this resource to develop new crops, processing and industry before the opportunity is lost.
Use it or lose it
Interprovincial agreements allocate the amount of water each province can draw from rivers such as the South Saskatchewan, that flow through several jurisdictions.
If Saskatchewan does not use its allocation, it risks losing the water to Alberta’s need to serve its growing population.
Like oil in Alberta, water can drive Saskatchewan’s rural economy in the coming century, according to Regina economist Graham Parsons.
He stressed the point in a 50-year water strategy produced for Saskatchewan Agrivision.
It called for long-term funding to support irrigation development, improved roads and direct access to financing by individual irrigation districts.
Central to that water strategy is access to three-phase electrical power and high-speed communications systems.
“This province needs a whole lot of pots on the stove,” he told a December gathering of Saskatchewan irrigators.
The plan calls for extensive irrigation development, new water storage reservoirs, tax-free zones to lure business and non-government regional water development corporations.
Parsons told SIPA that funding is key to irrigation development, saying the “drip and drip” of funding taps in the past hinder future development and investment by farmers.
“Much will not happen without a stronger irrigation face,” said
Parsons, who proposed a $300
million program over 10 years.
That is not much compared to the $6.7 billion in government assistance paid to reduce the damage of the last six droughts, he added.
Parsons said a third party such as SIPA, in consultation with others, can help deliver such programs free from the whims of politicians.
He said urban and rural communities must be made aware of the benefits of irrigation to tourism, recreation, processing
and rural revitalization.
“Irrigators have to become more interested in their own self-interest,” he said. “Stand up for your own selfish interests.”
He said there is an 18-month window of opportunity for Saskatchewan to act on the long-term water strategy. That is because the federal Liberal minority government has a budget surplus and a desire to win western votes, which coincides with the Saskatchewan government’s need to tackle rural issues.
